Peter Reid has revealed how Kevin Phillips was willing to gamble on picking up a serious injury in order to try and dig Sunderland out of relegation trouble at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

But the Black Cats boss - who hopes that Phillips will be fully fit to face Southampton this weekend - insists he has no regrets about leaving the England striker on Wearside, even though Sunderland crashed to a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Chelsea in his absence.

Phillips did not even travel to London, after failing a fitness test on the knee injury he suffered in training last week. But the 28-year-old tried to persuade Reid to play him anyway, despite the risks involved.

"If it had been a knock I would have played him," said Reid, who named a team without the former Watford man for the first time this season.

"But it was a muscle injury and if he had gone out and pulled it or torn it I would not have been able to forgive myself.

"These are the difficult decisions that a manager has to make."

Reid was in a similar situation with Claudio Reyna - who has been battling to overcome a hamstring problem - as Claudio Ranieri's men romped to an emphatic victory with goals from William Gallas, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Mikael Forssell and Sam Dalla Bona.

Gavin McCann and Paul Thirlwell did make their returns to Premiership action after two-month lay-offs with knee ligament and ankle injuries.

And manager Reid is now hoping that Phillips, Reyna, Julio Arca and Joachim Bj&#xF6;rklund will all be available for selection for this weekend's must-win encounter on Wearside.

Reid said: "It was a big disappointment losing Kevin and Claudio at Chelsea.

"But with a bit of luck we could have four players back to face Southampton, including those two, and that will be a massive boost. It could give us the inspiration we need. The work ethic is there, the players are giving me everything that they have got but we need that quality."

Sunderland, who did not deserve such a scoreline, seem unable to pull away from the Premiership danger-zone, with the Black Cats' latest defeat leaving the club still just four points clear of the bottom three.

"It's ever so tight down there," admitted Reid, who suffered relegation with the Wearsiders in 1997.

"But that's what is so fantastic about the Premier League.

"We have to stay positive and that is what we will be concentrating on in training this week. Southampton is a massive game for us." Reid could not help but admire Chelsea's clinical finishing as they clocked up their third 4-0 win in their last three matches.

But the Sunderland chief felt aggrieved to be on the receiving end of such a one-sided scoreline.

"I thought we did all right, to be perfectly honest," he added.

"That might sound ridiculous but with about 20 minutes to go I told Quinny to get ready because I thought we could nick one.

"I thought that we could have a real go at them but - while the big man was warming up - they hit us with their second goal, that was the killer."